The Haunting of Korn
"No guilt is forgotten so long as the conscience still knows of it." ~Unknown
Korn stood there with a menacing look on his face. One look at Korn and one could tell he was in a bad mood. Universe 6 and 7 were gone, wiped from existence but they still had Universe 3, 4, and 11 to deal with in order to survive or cease to exist like the universes before them. To make matters worse Peppa got himself knocked off the stage which foiled Korn's plans to perform the Potara Fusion.
Korn suddenly felt a sudden a strike at the center of his back as he slams face first into the ground. Korn quickly gets back to his feet looking around with a panicked look. In his mind he was all that stood between survival and non-existence. The pressure was on Korn, he needed to deal with Universe 4 then find some way to defeat both Jiren and Toppo. Korn could sense something but he could not see it. Korn took up a defensive stance constantly looking around.
"Huh, everyone has stopped?" both Zenos say at the same time.
Korn got struck again in his back, only this time his body front flipped landing back on his feet. Korn quickly got to his feet being struck at different sides of his body unable to defend against something he can't see. Quitela starts to giggle evilly. Heles hears it looking over at him.
"What's so funny, Quitela?" Heles demanded.
"Could it be?" Pell rubs his chin.
"Universe 4" Peppa said in a cold tone glaring down at his cousin Korn.
"This is what Quitela was talking about? He is up to something again" Heles scuffs.
"Don't worry, my cousin wont lose" Peppa crosses his arms leaning back lowering his head and closes his eyes.
"I can't see it, can't see it's attacks, can't see anything…" Korn mutters to himself. "Invisibility...how annoying" Korn says with a heavy sigh.
"Invisibility? Such an old trick in this day and age?" Heles scuffs again.
"Good guess" Quitela tells her.
"Wait?! It's really an invisible person?" Heles says alarmed. Heles looks back down at Korn to see him with his hands up blocking invisible attacks getting pushed back toward the edge.
"Korn! It's an invisible person!" Vikal calls out to him.
"Thanks for stating the obvious" Korn replies back under duress.
"If he can't see it, he can't attack or defend properly!" Hermila states. Peppa opens his eyes glaring at his cousin Korn.
"An invisible person. That's a tricky enemy" Heles says putloud.
The invisible enemy brutalized Korn like he was a saiyan punching bag. Korn slid back with his hands across his chest. A clear aura appears around Korn as he unleashes all his energy like he did with No.17.
"Finale Explosion!" Korn yells out holding out his hands and blows a section of the stage up in a mushroom cloud of pure energy. Korn stood there with steam coming off his body. He was covered in sweat and he had an exhausted look on his face. He looked around waiting for the Grand Priest to announce someone had been knocked off but no words came which meant his invisible foe is still around and everyone else knew it as well.
For a brief moment Korn's body moved on its own attacking a distant hill top his hand continued to move destroying nearby pillars. Korn let out a sigh lowering his hand making a fist looking at it then looks around at where he was firing confused.
"He got away again…" Korn mutters in a low voice.
"I see, That way he's sure to hit it regardless of whether he can see it or not" Pell tells the group.
"Getting drained is exactly what the enemy wants" Heles says with extreme worry for her knight.
"Then we're out of options" Jimeze says outloud.
"You guys are all annoying…" Peppa says in a voice standing up walking down to the guardrail looking down at his cousin. "Korn!" Peppa calls down to him. Korn looks up annoyed at Peppa who stood there with his arms across his chest and his tail moving around behind.
"What do you want?" Korn yells back tiredly.
"Cover it with something so it becomes visible...when in doubt stick to the basics of fighting" Peppa scolds Korn. Korn just gives an annoyed look but nods his head.
"Everything you do is futile" Quitela snickers.
Korn yells out with his clear aura powering-up around him. Korn holds out his hands spinning around firing in all directions kicking up dust everywhere around him.
"Jeeze, are you kidding me? You won't beat Gamisaras with that stupid method like that!" Quitela mocks Korn. "No one can catch him. No one can avoid him! You'll use up your spirit and stamina! In the end, you'll be defeated. That's the plan!" Quitela continues to mock Korn's efforts. Korn continues to fire with dust all around him. Suddenly Quitela stops laughing looking down at Korn. "Your kidding?" Quitela has a nervous look. The dust exposed Gamisaras, Korn appeared in front of him to his shock.
"I see you" Korn said in a evil voice with a malicious look. Korn gives Gamisaras a hard left, sending him into a pillar of rock covering him in dust. Korn just stood there with a cold look as he walked toward Gamisaras cautiously.
"Dammit!" Gamisaras said in a frustrated voice. Korn just stared at him. Gamisaras went on the attack but now that Korn can see him, Korn was easily able to dodge all his attacks. Then knock him away and firing a volley of ki attacks. Korn then uses Instant Transmission to appear behind him slamming his left fist into his back. Gamisaras hits the ground hard sliding across it with Korn landing on the ground a few feet behind him.
"As long as I can see you, you are nothing to me" Korn tells him in a menacing voice. Korn took a deep breath. Firing a massive mouth beam with the image of a Brown Oozaru behind him. His original ki attack. Gamisaras was blown off the stage. Korn takes in a deep breath taking a moment to recover his stamina.
"Universe 4's Gamisaras has dropped out" The Grand Priest announces. Gamisaras's invisible body appears next to his comrades in the Universe 4 stands. They can't see him but they feel him taking up space next to them.
"I'm sorry" Gamisaras says in a heart felt voice.
"See that Quitela? Your ugly tactics wont conquer the love of Universe 2" Heles said in a loving but defensive way. Quitela just looks really annoyed, but in his mind he says "We're just getting started." Quitela snickers.
"Good going Korn-sama!" Vikal yells out.
"Keep it up Korn! You can do it!" Su Roas yells out.
"We believe in you!" Jimeze, Hermila, and Pell all yell out.
"Well, it's too early to celebrate yet" Quitela cautions them. "Do it, Shantza!" Quitela yells out. Korn looks up at Quitela and then looks around waiting for an attack.
Shantza is a small, chubby blue alien creature. He has red circles on his cheeks and body, and wears some rings on his feet. He has three horns on his head, and has some holes on his back that allow him to float through the air. He looks up and nods at Quitela.
Shantza puts his thumbs together, the red circles on his cheeks glow and send red rings into the skies of the void. Korn watched a red ring see through the dome form around him and trap him. Korn clenches his fists ready for anything.
"Prepare yourselves, we have returned from beyond this realm to have revenge on you" multiple dark voices say in unison. Korn turns his head and his eyes widen in horror. Shadows with red outline of Universe 9's warriors. Korn thought he was ready for anything Universe 4 might throw at him. He was wrong. Korn eyed each shadowy apparition till his eyes fell on Hop and with great sadness he frowned remembering her face as she was wiped from existence.
"Hop…" Korn mutters to her.
"I'm going to finish what I started and tear you apart to my heart's content" Hop replied to him in a dark and distorted voice full of rage.
"It can't be...Universe 9 was erased!" Su Roas says from the stands. Even Peppa looked deeply disturbed by this new development. Korn let out a sigh realizing he would have to defeat Universe 9 this time all by himself. He went for Hop first wanting to end her suffering quickly. Korn threw a fast right but his hand passed through her face and she stood there with an evil grin.
"That doesn't work" Hop laughs evilly at a freaked out and horrified Korn who backs away being crippled by tremendous guilt. Korn watched Hop disappear, then he saw Sorrel to his right and chopped at her and she disappeared. Korn backed up watching them reappear before him. Peppa narrows his eyes.
"Cousin their not real! Their illusions! It's another trick of Universe 4!" Peppa scolds Korn from the stands. Brianne got up from her spot next to Sour walking down the steps standing to the right of Peppa watching Korn's plight with an intense look.
"I see…" Korn regains his composure looking pissed off striking the images of Hop and Sorrel away. One of the dangers appeared before him and Korn just glared at him. Korn watches the danger throw and punch and it hits him hard in his chest causing him to slide back. "What?!" Korn looked up shocked falling back into his traumatized mindset thinking they must be real ghosts.
"Peppa…" Brianne points out.
"I know...I saw…" Peppa at the moment was just as confused as the rest. The danger brutalized Korn and knocked him into a rock pillar. Korn uses the pillar to get back to his feet looking deeply disturbed. "What if they were real? And they did come back from beyond this realm to get revenge on him for what he had done? If so why hasn't the Grand Priest and Zenos done anything about it?" Korn thought to himself.
"That Universe 4 warrior...Shantza must be able to create solid illusions" Su Roas says out loud to the group. They watch Korn be attacked from all sides by Universe 9's apparitions. Korn tried his best to defend and attack but it was futile. None of his attacks hit and all there's kept hitting him. On top of that Korn kept flashing back to his fights with Universe 9 and their erasure. "Guys we need to figure this trick out or Korn will lose" Su Roas tells the team as they all study the fight going on.
Then Korn did something unexpected. He closed his eyes and he could sense someone moving around the stage and another standing still. Had he miscounted earlier? Was there another unseen warrior of Universe 4? Korn opened one eye glancing up at Universe 4 and realizing he was in such a rush earlier he had miscounted the warriors in Universe 4's stands. Korn quickly closed his eyes.
"What's he doing?" Jimeze asked out loud.
"It's alright, my cousin figured it out" Peppa smirks taking Brianne by the hand up the steps as they sit back down next to Sour. They watch the two and note that Peppa no longer seemed worried at all. The apparitions attacked but four of them passed through Korn while he instinctively blocked and knocked one away. To everyone's surprise.
"I don't need to see you to defeat you two" Korn mutters in a dark voice.
"I see, there is another warrior. One attacks while the other maintains the illusion" Hermila tells the group.
Shantza pokes his head over the rock to see a motionless Korn. Just then Korn's left hand shot up and fired a ki blast blowing Shantza off the stage. Shantza appears in the stands with Quitela running over screaming at him.
"Dammit, Shantza! Dodge stuff like that!" Quitela scolds him.
"That was impossible, he fired the blast so fast I didn't have time…I'm sorry" Shantza tried to explain waving his right hand back and forth. The red dome and its illusions disappear from the stage and everything around Korn returns to normal. Korn looks around seeing Hop's image disappear. Korn lowers his head giving Universe 9 and moment of silence out of respect. Just then Korn goes flying into a stone being struck all over his chest and face by another unseen warrior.
"Your kidding? Another unseen opponent?" Jimeze yells out shocked.
"They had another one?" Heles looked shocked.
"This trick wont work on me twice and unlike the other I can sense your energy" Korn says while getting punched all over. Then he closes his eyes and brings up his arms, clearing his mind and letting his body move on its own. Korn started to throw random punches in the air but in reality he was knocking away the unseen warrior. He couldn't even land a blow on Korn whose body kept striking in the direction of the energy he kept sensing.
"Oh no! He knows everything! Were going to be erased!" Quitela freaks out.
However, as Korn seemed to have the upper edge he started missing, striking at spots he felt the energy of the warrior but getting hit in a totally different spot. Pretty soon it looked like Korn was just fighting air getting knocked and tossed around. "Just kidding" Quitela laughs evilly.
"It's another trick? Korn-sama hurry up and solve this one before it's too late!" Vikal yells out. Korn gets brutalized in his back and goes flying forward slamming into the ground. Korn gets to one knee opening his eyes looking back up at Quitela in anger.
"You dumb fool! You fell for it again!" Quitela mocks Korn again in front of everyone. "Keep it up Damon! Knock them all off once you finish Korn off!" Quitela laughs.
Korn kept attacking air, sensing the opponents energy but none of his attacks were hitting as if Damon had no body. Each time Korn missed with a series of attacks Damon would brutalize him with a series of punches that would send Korn close to the edge and on two occasions he would have gone off the edge had he not fired a ki blast to push him back on the stage.
After a few more rounds of this Korn begin to notice a small trail of dust right before an attack. He was able to dodge an attack right before it disappeared. This happened a few more times then Korn was able to put it together and he smiled a most evil smile.
"I see, so that's it" Korn mutters in a dark voice leaping to a rock standing there erect.
"That's our Korn-sama. He has already figured out this warrior's bizzare power and how to defeat it!" Vikal says with utter confidence in Korn.
"I'm ready come and get me!" Korn challenges Damon then closes his eyes to everyone's surprise once again. Everyone watches Korn get brutalized but holds his ground not budging from his spot while he listens intently, realizing he can't rely on sight, nor one's energy. He is relying solely on the sound of his opponent. Suddenly Korn's left hand fired a ki blast forcing Damon to dodge least he gets blown off the stage. "You all rely too much on sight and sensing one's energy" Korn scolds everyone watching. "This thing isn't invisible at all! The only reason I couldn't hit him is because he is a bug person" Korn holds out his right hand firing another ki blast pointing to the small warrior on the ground everyone had to lean forward and strain their eyes to see.
Damon is an extremely small, round dark green insect with small orange antennae and red eyes. He has a blue section on his chest, a small triangular tail, and no fingers on his hands, having giant rounded balls for hands instead.
"No wonder his attacks didn't hit, that thing is so small" Brianne said outloud.
"Everyone assumed it must have been another invisible person, thinking like that almost led Korn astray and gave Universe 4 an opening to knock him off" Sour chimes in with his cold voice and blank stare killing the mood of the group once again. "You all should becareful what you tell him from the stands or what you get him to focus on. If you get him to focus on the wrong thing he will lose" Sour explains wanting to stress the importance of proper rooting to his team. Everyone just looks at him then back down at the stage.
"Hey Damon, don't you dare fall off! You know what happens if you do, right?!" Quitela warns him. Korn glances up at Quitela, he was growing very tired of him and his outbursts.
"Figuring out my identity means nothing!" Damon says leaping up. Korn fires ki blasts at him, but Damon dodges and continues to strike at Korn. "Catch me if you can!" Damon challenges. Korn just smiles coming up with an idea. The next time Damon dodge Korn's ki blast and struck Korn, Korn held out his right hand and entraps Damon in a barrier the size of a tennis ball. "What is this?" Damon bounces around in the clear crystal looking barrier.
"You don't have wings. So you must jump all the time. The answer was obvious, kill your mobility and you lose" Korn said in a sinister tone. Damon looked up in horror at Korn who had an evil grin on his face. "Good bye…" Korn hurls the orb like a pitcher in a baseball game throwing Damon off the stage.
"I knew he could do it!" Vikal cheers outloud. Damon appears in the stands.
"I'm sorry…" Damon tells Universe 4.
"If sorry was enough, our universe wouldn't be getting erased!" Quitela yells at Damon trying to stomp on him. Korn has left eye closed and his right eye open. He had black and blue bruises all over his chest, and back. Korn looks up at the Universe 4 stands wondering if they had anymore surprises.
"Damon has dropped out" Zeno announces to everyone before even the Grand Priest could announce it. "They're all black!" Zeno says outloud looking at the Godpad. "Universe 4 is gone" Future Zeno tells his younger self. "It's gone" Zeno replies in a less excited tone. Korn was listening to the Zenos then Quitela starts screaming, catching everyone's attention.
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO BE ERASED!" Quitela pleads and begs. Quitela starts to freak out before everyone. Korn just watches him with an intense look. "I won't allow it! Why do we have to be erased? I wont accept this!" Quitela screams. "In that case I'll take you all with m-"
"Ready, set, squish!" The Zenos said quickly before Quitela could finish his sentence. In an instant Universe 4 was gone. Korn saw their horror struck faces and their hopeless faces giving into despair. The scene reminded him very much of Universe 9.
"Universe 4 has been erased" Grand Priest announces. This left only Universe 2, 3, and 11 left. Korn stood all alone with his head bowed and his eyes closed. His fists clenched. Korn's dark and negative emotions threaten to consume and overwhelm him. He hated this tournament, what it represented, the angels, the Grand Priest, and most of all Korn hated the Zenos. Korn opens his eyes looking up at the Zenos wanting to very much kill them, their guards and the Grand Priest. He wanted no more universes to be toyed and erased for their enjoyment. All this deeply haunted Korn's mind and ripped soul apart...Only 8 minutes remained...